South of St. Louis

“I spend my days thinking about the distant universe, and I didn’t think I’d be particularly moved by some chance alignment of the moon, earth, and sun. But it is incredibly spooky and profound to have the sun extinguished in the middle of the day. It highlights in a dramatic and visceral way our connection to the heavens.”—Associate professor Daniel Holz, SM’94, PhD’98

(Photo courtesy Daniel Holz)

Redmond, Oregon

“The weather was perfect. There was some haze north of us from a very large fire on the eastern flanks of the south Cascades, but this didn’t really affect us in Redmond. It was a terrific experience!”—Robert Rosner, the William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor

(Photo courtesy Robert Rosner)

Jackson, Wyoming

“Totality is a great experience—much, much better than a 98 percent eclipse. To see planets and stars at midday is amazing.”—Physical Sciences Division dean Edward “Rocky” Kolb

(Photo courtesy Rocky Kolb)

Jackson, Wyoming

“Cows were mooing right before the eerie silence that followed, and the temperature dropped precipitously. The corona of the sun was simply breathtaking.”—Wendy Freedman, the John and Marion Sullivan University Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics